Summer Games Paris 2024

[proffate]

If you quizzed all the active commenters on this forum to answer in 5 seconds or less who won The OG RR in 2016 vs. who finished 2nd at Lombardia that year, you’d see the difference in status.

He said TT though. I actually have no recollection who won the TT heh. I can remember Primoz 2021.

 

[Penninepeddler]

I think it depends on the sport: Obviously winning Ice Hockey gold in the 2nd half of the 20th century wasn’t some glorified university cup.

I think an interesting comparison sport to cycling re: status of Olympic achievement is alpine skiing. For some skiers, and in some countries (especially the US) winning Gold is the pinnacle achievement. But many of skiers would think winning the globe for overall points is a bigger achievement. And a downhiller might value winning at Kitzbuel more than Gold during years the Olympic Games race was on Mickey Mouse courses.

I mean, it was a bit of a joke in hockey tbh because Russia had a top tier pro team in the guise of amateurs (they would have won a lot anyway)... but every pre-1988 Olympic medal is a 2nd rate medal tbh.

As two of the best four countries in the world at the time could not send even their C team... and several of the top teams (Sweden and Finland and Czechoslovakia) could not have their best players in the 70s and 80s... so really only Russia had their A team of the top six teams on earth aha.

Dont let the Miracle on Ice fool you there... although, heck, that team was basically a glorified NCAA team ahaha.

 

[Sciatic]

He said TT though. I actually have no recollection who won the TT heh. I can remember Primoz 2021.

Good point—though the general discussion was about the value of an Olympic cycling gold in road cycling in general. Still, my mistake.

2016 is easy to recall for me because it was Cancellara —though the image I remember most the (Aussie?) TT-er who broke his stem

 

[proffate]

Good point—though the general discussion was about the value of an Olympic cycling gold in road cycling in general. Still, my mistake.

2016 is easy to recall for me because it was Cancellara —though the image I remember most the (Aussie?) TT-er who broke his stem

For some reason I always think Canc retired earlier than he did.

Outside of cycling circles I'm sure that result boosts his credibility a lot, but for followers of the sport, +/- an Olympic gold in the TT (not RR) is probably not really a difference maker in how we think of his career.

 

[Sciatic]

I mean, it was a bit of a joke in hockey tbh because Russia had a top tier pro team in the guise of amateurs (they would have won a lot anyway)... but every pre-1988 Olympic medal is a 2nd rate medal tbh.

As two of the best four countries in the world at the time could not send even their C team... and several of the top teams (Sweden and Finland and Czechoslovakia) could not have their best players in the 70s and 80s... so really only Russia had their A team of the top six teams on earth aha.

Dont let the Miracle on Ice fool you there... although, heck, that team was basically a glorified NCAA team ahaha.

I see, and that’s why the Soviet team won the six-game Summit Series (3 wins and a tie) againstTeam Canada of NHL players in 1972?
I wasn’t referring to Miracle on Ice, I was thinking about those Soviet and Czech teams of the 60s and 70s—it is a team sport so those teams (who played together for years) playing NHL all-stars gathered for just the Olympics (and playing on the bigger Olympic ice) would have been great matchups.

 

[Sciatic]

For some reason I always think Canc retired earlier than he did.

Outside of cycling circles I'm sure that result boosts his credibility a lot, but for followers of the sport, +/- an Olympic gold in the TT (not RR) is probably not really a difference maker in how we think of his career.

I think we’d have to ask him to know for sure, but I agree—especially given that he had already won multiple WC ITTs.

 

[Penninepeddler]

I see, and that’s why the Soviet team won the six-game Summit Series (3 wins and a tie) againstTeam Canada of NHL players in 1972?
I wasn’t referring to Miracle on Ice, I was thinking about those Soviet and Czech teams of the 60s and 70s—it is a team sport so those teams (who played together for years) playing NHL all-stars gathered for just the Olympics (and playing on the bigger Olympic ice) would have been great matchups.

As I said, the Soviets would have won a lot of those tournaments!

But the mid 70s teams were the best of the best of the 1956-wall falls down era!

But they never did play the Canada teams of the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s in the Olympics.

And even the Czechoslovakians did not have their best team in 80 and 84... as:

The Stastny brothers, Nedomansky, Hlinka, Bubla, Frycer, Crha, Ihnacak... all missed Olympics due to the amateur rules.

And in turn those medals mattered less everywhere than was not the Soviet Union tbh. It was never a best on best until 1988.

I do wish the NHL were less prickish right now and we had a best on best Olympics again... because yeh, right now it is back to being pretty irrelevant sadly.

Best-on-best I think is what matters most in Olympic prestige... where sports are clearly best on best? They are the pinnacle of the sport or close... where they are not? Or they kind of are but were preceded (pre-88) by a best-on-best tournament/event in the same sport? Then it is generally more of a "2nd rate" event.

Cycling is somewhere in-between I would say. Given close to best on best, but not quite, and has not been around as long as almost all the top ~20 races in a "proper best-on-best" guise.

 

[proffate]

Is Remco going to wear a gold helmet for the next 4 years like Samu and GVA?

 

[joe_papp]

2016 was the most exciting. One of the best one-day races we have seen (Nibali and Henao crashing notwithstanding).

Ahh, right. Vaguely remember Porte crashing out, and Annemiek van Vleuten also falling badly on jungle roads under heavy canopy (or something like that).

 

[joe_papp]

1996 had the largest peloton: 183 starters in the men's road race.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1816411551038890088

View: https://x.com/laflammerouge16/status/1816411551038890088/photo/1

Thanks. Heck of a top-15 in 1996.

Of the top-10, the only name I don't recognize is the Pole, Zbigniew Spruch. Same w/ the Ukrainian Serhiy Ushakov in the top-15. But Konyshev ...that guy was a beast!

 

[joe_papp]

Too lazy to try to make a poll (if you can even do that), but which men's or women's Olympic RR champ do you guys think had the best post-win bike or uniform bedazzlement*?

(* - has to have been ridden in competition, so for example Vino's all-gold Dubai Tour bike wouldn't count)

Bonus points (of appreciation) if you include photos.

 

[BullsFan22]

What a save!

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[Penninepeddler]

Too lazy to try to make a poll (if you can even do that), but which men's or women's Olympic RR champ do you guys think had the best post-win bike or uniform bedazzlement*?

(* - has to have been ridden in competition, so for example Vino's all-gold Dubai Tour bike wouldn't count)

Bonus points (of appreciation) if you include photos.

Ohhh yeh. What a look lmao.

 

[joe_papp]

@Netserk Thats a great list tbf. I'd move Dwaars and KBK a bit up, honestly I think they are more prestigious than the Canadian classics. But maybe thats my bias speaking.

After this men's Olympic rr, with its shameful sub-100 rider field, the WC surely has to rank above it on list↓↓ ??

Tour de France
Giro d'Italia
Vuelta a España
Olympic Games Road Race
World Championships Road Race
Paris - Roubaix
Ronde van Vlaanderen
Liège - Bastogne - Liège
Giro di Lombardia
Milano - Sanremo

 

[joe_papp]

Ohhh yeh. What a look lmao.

Glorious

 

[Penninepeddler]

Glorious

Wonder if he sold it too... and then claimed it had been stolen for the insurance money...

a tricky-trickster in reduced sprints... and a tricky-trickster off the bike too seemingly.

 

[red_flanders]

Personally, I value Sagan's 3 WCRRs in a row much more than GvA's Gold in Rio.

The nice thing is Remco has both.

With the road race still to come!

 

[Squire]

Had a go at amending the first part of your list according to my own view. The order of races shown are my own, with changes from your ranking in brackets.

Tour de France
Giro d'Italia
(+3)Paris - Roubaix
(+2)World Championships Road Race
(-2)Vuelta a España
(-2)Olympic Games Road Race
Ronde van Vlaanderen
Liège - Bastogne - Liège
(+1)Milano - Sanremo
(-1)Giro di Lombardia
(+2)Paris - Nice
(-1)Dauphiné Libéré
(-1)Tour de Suisse
(+1)Tirreno - Adriatico
(-1)Itzulia
Volta a Cataluña
(+5)World Championships Time Trial
(-1)Amstel Gold Race
Tour de Romandie
(+1)Flèche Wallone
(-1)Olympic Games Time Trial
(-4)Gent - Wevelgem

The Olympic road race in cycling feels a bit gimmicky to me in a way, for lack of a better word, considering how different it is from normal races. It sounds nice and grand, and it has the rarity value, but in some sense I find that the rarity almost takes away some value too, because it means becoming Olympic champion becomes even more of a lottery. Some rider types can go almost a career without a suitable Olympics route. At least the Worlds are likely to fit most riders quite a few times through their career, so whether a rider has managed to win a Worlds or not actually says something about their career.

 

[yaco]

Plapp with lacerated bowel and spleen. Emd of the season. Can he be replaced in the RR.

 

[saunaking]

I see, and that’s why the Soviet team won the six-game Summit Series (3 wins and a tie) againstTeam Canada of NHL players in 1972?

Dude what??????
Canada won that series, its still talked about today. Its like an iconic part of Canadian culture

'HENDERSON HAS SCORED FOR CANADA!!!!'

 

[red_flanders]

Plapp with lacerated bowel and spleen. Emd of the season. Can he be replaced in the RR.

Jeebus, that sounds serious. Hope he's going to be OK.

 

[Mayomaniac]

What a save!

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Happened with 13kms to go.

According to himself the rain didn't help since he isn't great at cornering when it's wet (a good bike handler on the TT bike otherwise), but his numbers were also better than expected.

He is happy with his performance, but a bit sad because it was probably his last shot at individual Olympic gold.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Is Remco going to wear a gold helmet for the next 4 years like Samu and GVA?

Would be fitting for Lefevre's golden goose.😃

Jokes aside, Olympic rings on the jersey would be sweet.

 

[rghysens]

Would be fitting for Lefevre's golden goose.😃

Jokes aside, Olympic rings on the jersey would be sweet.

I think the olympic rings are a protected trademark. You can´t use them unless you got the specific approval of the ioc. That´s why there´s no olympic jersey for cyclists.

 

[tobydawq]

Please explain. Have you changed your mind since you made these (and many similar) comments? If so, why? Would you now like to withdraw these comments?

Hmm. Maybe this was a very rare attempt at sarcasm on Abi's part. I don't usually need to have my sarcasm detector turned on when he posts but it seems like I should have had yesterday.